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Food banks reap after the harvest

Published: Tuesday, April 8, 2014 at 10:58 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, April 9, 2014 at 9:48 a.m.

NOKOMIS - For two years, food banks serving the hungry in this part of Southwest Florida have received fresh produce from an unlikely source: the Sarasota County landfill.

Facts

INTERESTED?

Anyone interested in volunteering as a picker or in donating fruit may contact the Society of St. Andrew at (407)650-1956 or at http://www.endhunger.org.

This is not as bad as it sounds. No one picks through garbage.

Instead, they pick oranges, tangerines and grapefruit from a grove the county inherited when it bought property to expand the landfill. The county has no use for the citrus, which otherwise would fall to the ground and rot.

In traditional agriculture, the process is called gleaning, a final sweep through the fields to salvage what the regular harvest has left behind.

“We're not looking for food that farmers are selling. We're looking for the fruits and vegetables that are too ugly or not big enough or ripe enough. We've learned that sometimes farmers plow under as much as 20 percent of their crops," says Walter Hernandez, state coordinator for the Society of St. Andrew, which organized the landfill harvests. The ecumenical society has gleaned from farms nationwide since 1983.

This year at the landfill, in five sessions of five hours each, 298 volunteer pickers from churches and service organizations accounted for 28,000 pounds of citrus, which was distributed to the Salvation Army, All Faiths Food Bank and others.

Hernandez expects to glean the grove one more time.

Admittedly, the landfill site is a windfall, and one that may not last indefinitely.

In 2004, the county bought 1,000 acres from the Albritton Fruit Co. for $16 million. It pushed over many of the citrus trees during a shallow scraping that provided fill cover for its landfill operation. The Albrittons leased back about 130 acres that had been left unscathed, and the family continued to maintain the grove, which abuts another 300 acres of groves the fruit company owns.

In 2013, a year after the lease was not renewed, the gleaning started.

“It's been a great blessing to be able to help people in need," says Brian Usher of Sarasota County Utilities.

The first year yielded 1.4 million pounds. The big dropoff between 2013 and this year testifies to how proper watering, fertilization, pest and weed control affects a harvest.

“Generally, governments do not make good farmers," says Stephen Futch of the University of Florida's Citrus Research and Education Center.

Not that anyone is trying. “We've mowed between the trees to make it easier for the gleaners. That's about the only maintenance we've done," Usher acknowledges. Futch, who inspected the trees at the county's request, says he endorses that approach, because the county's objective is to extend the life of the landfill, not run an orange grove.

Even if the landfill harvests turn out to be shortlived, they've provided a boon to recipients such as All Faiths Food Bank. All Faiths has been trying to expand the distribution of fresh foods through its Sprout Mobile Farm Market, a custom-built truck that delivers to six locations each week from North Port to Sarasota.

It started the program in January, and the demand has been great enough that the food bank plans to extend deliveries to 13 sites. The quick turnaround for fresh produce has enabled All Faiths to cut its waste by 75 percent, spokeswoman Laura Coyle says.

The landfill harvests also have provided good publicity for the concept of gleaning in Sarasota County. Christ United Methodist Church in Venice, which supplied the bulk of the 60-some volunteers for the most recent landfill outing on March 15, has been at it for four years through the Society of St. Andrew.

The congregation's youth group canvasses neighborhoods, looking for unpicked fruit trees in yards. The kids then hang fliers on doors with the church's phone number and an explanation of the gleaning program.

Once a year, usually in early February, a crew of volunteers picks the trees at 40 to 50 homes. This year's effort produced 5,000 to 6,000 pounds, church member Frank Craver says.

The Society of St. Andrew gleans 70 farms in Florida, but Hernandez says the backyard harvesting also has an impact, especially in urban areas. Two recent gleanings yielded 35,000 pounds of fruit from Orlando yards and 34,000 pounds from Jacksonville, all of which would have otherwise gone to waste.

Craver says the picking offers ancillary benefits, too. “It's really a fun thing. The youth get together with the adults. We meet neighbors we didn't know. And it's taking something that's totally useless to one person and connecting it with someone who can use it."

<p><em>NOKOMIS</em> - For two years, food banks serving the hungry in this part of Southwest Florida have received fresh produce from an unlikely source: the Sarasota County landfill.</p><p>This is not as bad as it sounds. No one picks through garbage.</p><p>Instead, they pick oranges, tangerines and grapefruit from a grove the county inherited when it bought property to expand the landfill. The county has no use for the citrus, which otherwise would fall to the ground and rot.</p><p>In traditional agriculture, the process is called gleaning, a final sweep through the fields to salvage what the regular harvest has left behind.</p><p>“We're not looking for food that farmers are selling. We're looking for the fruits and vegetables that are too ugly or not big enough or ripe enough. We've learned that sometimes farmers plow under as much as 20 percent of their crops," says Walter Hernandez, state coordinator for the Society of St. Andrew, which organized the landfill harvests. The ecumenical society has gleaned from farms nationwide since 1983.</p><p>This year at the landfill, in five sessions of five hours each, 298 volunteer pickers from churches and service organizations accounted for 28,000 pounds of citrus, which was distributed to the Salvation Army, All Faiths Food Bank and others.</p><p>Hernandez expects to glean the grove one more time.</p><p>Admittedly, the landfill site is a windfall, and one that may not last indefinitely.</p><p>In 2004, the county bought 1,000 acres from the Albritton Fruit Co. for $16 million. It pushed over many of the citrus trees during a shallow scraping that provided fill cover for its landfill operation. The Albrittons leased back about 130 acres that had been left unscathed, and the family continued to maintain the grove, which abuts another 300 acres of groves the fruit company owns. </p><p>In 2013, a year after the lease was not renewed, the gleaning started.</p><p>“It's been a great blessing to be able to help people in need," says Brian Usher of Sarasota County Utilities.</p><p>The first year yielded 1.4 million pounds. The big dropoff between 2013 and this year testifies to how proper watering, fertilization, pest and weed control affects a harvest. </p><p>“Generally, governments do not make good farmers," says Stephen Futch of the University of Florida's Citrus Research and Education Center. </p><p>Not that anyone is trying. “We've mowed between the trees to make it easier for the gleaners. That's about the only maintenance we've done," Usher acknowledges. Futch, who inspected the trees at the county's request, says he endorses that approach, because the county's objective is to extend the life of the landfill, not run an orange grove.</p><p>Even if the landfill harvests turn out to be shortlived, they've provided a boon to recipients such as All Faiths Food Bank. All Faiths has been trying to expand the distribution of fresh foods through its Sprout Mobile Farm Market, a custom-built truck that delivers to six locations each week from North Port to Sarasota.</p><p>It started the program in January, and the demand has been great enough that the food bank plans to extend deliveries to 13 sites. The quick turnaround for fresh produce has enabled All Faiths to cut its waste by 75 percent, spokeswoman Laura Coyle says.</p><p>The landfill harvests also have provided good publicity for the concept of gleaning in Sarasota County. Christ United Methodist Church in Venice, which supplied the bulk of the 60-some volunteers for the most recent landfill outing on March 15, has been at it for four years through the Society of St. Andrew.</p><p>The congregation's youth group canvasses neighborhoods, looking for unpicked fruit trees in yards. The kids then hang fliers on doors with the church's phone number and an explanation of the gleaning program.</p><p>Once a year, usually in early February, a crew of volunteers picks the trees at 40 to 50 homes. This year's effort produced 5,000 to 6,000 pounds, church member Frank Craver says.</p><p>The Society of St. Andrew gleans 70 farms in Florida, but Hernandez says the backyard harvesting also has an impact, especially in urban areas. Two recent gleanings yielded 35,000 pounds of fruit from Orlando yards and 34,000 pounds from Jacksonville, all of which would have otherwise gone to waste.</p><p>Craver says the picking offers ancillary benefits, too. “It's really a fun thing. The youth get together with the adults. We meet neighbors we didn't know. And it's taking something that's totally useless to one person and connecting it with someone who can use it."</p>